


12 DAYS OF MAGGIE

by alexia_fnds



Series: Maggie, Cot and Tutu [2]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Family, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Ficmas, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-16 12:38:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16954185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexia_fnds/pseuds/alexia_fnds
Summary: it is not necessary to read the first part of this series - you're at the risk, i'll always take - but it would be a good idea to get an idea of who Maggie is.





	1. nothing lasts forever

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ExcuseMeMissT](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExcuseMeMissT/gifts).



> i know, i know, i'm a day earlier but it's the easiest for me to post, so y'all gonna get your days of Christmas earlier!

Margaret was a proud four years old, now that she knew how old she was. It had taken some adjustments from her as she didn’t understand the basic of a birthday and why suddenly she wasn’t three anymore but four and her mom had asked to show one more fingers when people asked her about her age She had asked her entire family to help, Nana, uncle Ca(sey), uncle (ke)Vin, Kaitlyn and now that it was really implemented in her head, her birthday was soon coming up and another finger would need to be pulled up and her entire hand would be shown next time she would blow candles. But Margaret wasn’t excited because her birthday was coming up, she was excited because the shop windows had turned red and green, light up with fairy lights, snow was falling on the ground at a steady pace and it was now appropriate to drink hot chocolate at any time of the day. It was Christmas time. Her house had been transformed for the occasion, she knew it happened every year but she could remember any of the previous years — a fact her mother had explained to her. She had been too little for her brain to remember because all the space was being used to learn and grow as smart as she could. Their living room had a giant Christmas tree decorated with balls and tinsels, all red and white — the theme of the year. The kitchen had welcomed more Christmas decoration in the form of a mini tree, some figurines and more tinsels. She loved this month of the year because every thing smelled festive and cinnamon-like and it was her favorite smell after all — well that, and her momma’s smell.

Margaret had been laying in her bed for a little while, and she was excited to start the day but she knew that waking up her mother at this time of the day would not end up good with her or their day, hence why she was reminiscing about her memories and the holiday season. Her little night light turned itself off, meaning that it was after seven. An appropriate time to run in her mother’s room, screaming about gifts and chocolate. She did just that, pushing her cover off of her body and sprinted to her mother’s room, not without holding onto Tutu. She didn’t remember when her mom had given her the stuffed animal but she knew it was when she was really little because there was photos of the two together since almost always. She pulled Tutu tighter to her side before propelling herself trough the door and on the bed, landing a few centimeters away from her sleeping mommy. She had chosen not to scream, rather choosing to wake her up with kisses and snuggles. She snaked her way up until her little face was mere millimeters from her mom, noses almost touching.

“Mommy?”

Margaret murmured softly, hand coming up to press on her cheek, letting her small fingers explore the high and low point of her face.

“It’s ismas!”

Her voice was getting louder as she let her excitement take over. Tessa moved and Maggie held her breathe, expecting her mom to say something or grab her but she only fell back on her back, still sleeping. Margaret couldn’t stop the laugh that erupted out of her and decided to take matter in her hands. She climbed on her mom, laying flat on her.

“Mooooooommy! Wake up!”

The little girl pressed her face to Tessa’s, her little hand were holding onto her cheeks, their foreheads were pressed together and their noses smashed against each other so when Tessa finally opened her eyes the first and only thing she saw was her daughter’s face. Margaret who had been utterly and completely focused on Tessa squealed when her green eyes fluttered open. “Momma!” Tessa groaned and tried to moved away from her really awake daughter but Margaret knew her mother and all her techniques. Margaret pressed on her shoulder and pushed herself away a little bit to give her mother space. “Momma! I wanna go see if Santa came but I’m not allowed to walk down the stairs by myself.” She pushed her bottom lips out, forming the cutest pout she could as she moving her chin down a little to be able to look at Tessa from under her lashes. “Please momma!” I just wanna go downstairs and you can nap on the couch!” Margaret knew she had won the second a smile pulled on Tessa’s mouth. “Yaaaay!”

The little girl pushed herself up and stood on the bed before jumping up and down to make sure her mom wouldn’t fall back asleep. She moved to the edge of the bed and before she could jump down, she felt arms enveloping and pulling her back. “I want snuggles first and then we’ll go see if Santa came.” Giggling in happiness — delighted by the deal, Margaret fell back on Tessa wrapping her small body around her mother, her face found its place just under his chin, humming when she felt the embrace of her mother close around her.

“Momma?”

“Mmh Monkey?” Margaret giggled at her nickname. Her mom had always called her this, but she didn’t know why and so her original question was forgotten to ask this one instead.

“Why do you call me Monkey?”

Margaret had looked up and smiled at her mother, hands lost in her hair.

“You were maybe two or three months old” — Tessa smiled at the gasp that escaped the little lips of her daughter. “and every time I would old you against me, you would wrap your arms around one of mine and hang on as if you were a monkey.” Margaret had moved without registering what she was doing until her mother started to laugh, she pulled her eyebrows together and asked what was so funny. “Look at how you’re holding me, Monkey.” Tessa lost it at the bewildered look on her daughter face before it changed to delight and she was laughing as well. “Like this?”

“Yeah, you were my baby monkey and as you grew I started to call you monkey, because you became strong enough to actually hang on if i was to stand. Look!” Tessa pulled herself up, sitting and asking Margaret to come and hang on as she usually would. Her arms now were wrapped around her neck instead of her arm, and her little legs were gripping the jut of her hips while her knees were hugging her waist. “Ready?” She waited for the little girl to nod before she stood, turning around to face the bed in case Margaret let go unexpectedly. Margaret had closed her eyes, a thing she did when she was unsure what she was doing would work but after a few seconds, she realized that nothing would happen. She was in her mother’s arms. The safest place of them all. “Just like this.” Tessa was holding her hands above her head to show her little monkey that she was indeed holding herself up by herself, without any help. “Oh Momma!” Margaret pulled on her little arms and with some effort — and help from Tessa, who pushed her up a little and bent down — was able to press a kiss to her cheek. “I love you!”

Tessa wrapped her arms under her daughter’s bum to support her while she walked down the stairs to immediately turn to the kitchen to start the preparation of hot chocolate — one of the few traditions Margaret remembered from before. She snuggled closer to her mother when she turned on the stove, knowing that she wasn’t usually allowed to be that close to it. She hid her face in the crook of her neck when it started to make noise, clearly not used to all of this noise in the morning. Tessa prepared them one mug of hot chocolate each, adding some marshmallows and a sprinkle of cinnamon on top. Margaret was observing in silence, knowing that it would go so much faster if she didn’t ask any questions. And if Maggie was being honest, she’d rather snuggle in her mother’s warmth than ask anything — that would force her to look away.

“Okay, Maggie Pie, go to the living room and I’ll join you. I’ll just grab some waffles Nana baked for us yesterday.” Tessa put her daughter down and expected her to run to the living room at full speed but the little girl stayed put, hand still closed around Tessa’s. “Mags? Did you hear me?” She crunched down to look at her daughter, but Maggie only smiled, wrapping herself around her mother upper body again. “I don’t want to go alone, Momma. Smas is about family and you’re mine.” Tessa pulled Maggie up and proceed to carry their mugs and then one place of waffles for the two of them, all in holding her previous cargo in the circle of her arms. Maggie giggled when her mother almost dropped the plate of food because Margaret had jumped — scared of the dancing light of her own choice in the living room. “monkey…monkey.. what will I do with you?” murmured Tessa, rolling her eyes.

“Open presents!! Look Momma, look!”

Margaret was suddenly totally fine with being on her own on Christmas morning as she twisted around until her mother let her down, watching her mother flop on the couch with a sigh. She grabbed Tessa’s favorite grey blanket and draped it over her legs before running to the pill of gifts under the tree. She remembered from old conversation that this year as Margaret still didn’t know how to read, the Virtues had decided to do a color coordinate gift wrapping system. Every red gift would be for Maggie, white for Tessa gold for Nana and green for Auntie Kaitlyn. Tessa watched amazed as her daughter started to organize the gifts by color, keeping the red one closest to her before pushing the gold and green one further away as she knew these people wouldn’t be over for a little while yet. “Momma!” She turned and moved on her right to allow Tessa to see the biggest pile of gifts. “Look how many I got!” She squealed and ran to her mother before jumping on her, not caring one bit about anything. She just wanted to share her excitement with her mother. “Can I open one?” Tessa subtly nodded but Margaret caught it and ran back to her pile of presents. Margaret was special in her own way, instead of grabbing the biggest, flashiest box, she grabbed the smallest — one that Tessa had wrapped for her. She might or might not remember but Tessa had started a new tradition when Margaret was born, one to always gift her with one new pendants for the bracelet she had been wearing since her birth.

Tessa watched as Margaret Gasped and turned the beautiful piece of jewelry around her small fingers. It was a simple rounded silver piece, engraved with the year 2017 and a cute little cat face on it. It was childlike but elegant enough that she will be able to wear it was long after she had grown up. “Momma! Put it on.” She had put the jewel back in its box and carefully walked to her mother, holding out her left arm out for her mother to use. She took the bracelet off and put the new ring around it. “Voilà!”

It seemed that for Margaret, the rest of the gifts didn’t exist anymore. All she had wanted this morning was to open the beautiful jewel her mother would have gotten her. She didn’t remember it until she had found the box under the tree but it was her most precious gift and she intended to keep this tradition going when she had kids on her own.


	2. in the end, all I learned was how strong I was alone

It was Christmas morning and Margaret Alma Virtue was sitting in her bed, Tutu squeezed between her knees and her chest as she tried to be as silent as possible — taking deep breathe to slow her sobs down. She didn’t want to be there, didn’t understand why she had to be here and not with her family, her mom. Margaret had started to mark one piece of paper with every morning she had to wake up in this place and so far, today was the hardest one. She had seen one of the older kids do it and decided that it was a good way to keep track of the time here as she didn’t have any activities to know what day it was anymore. She used to go skating on Tuesdays and to her Nana’s every Mondays and Thursdays but now? All she did was wake up, get breakfast if she was lucky and then she would color or try to read. She didn’t play or interact with others, they were mean because she was smart and they weren’t.

She wanted to go back home. She wanted to be in her bed, waking up to the chirps of the heater of her room and run to her momma’s room to wake her up with a snuggle but none of this was possible now, because her mother had sent her to this place she hated — the orphanage.

The hardest part of it all was probably not being able to enjoy her favorite holiday. It wasn’t even about the gift, or the food, but just about the atmosphere of the holiday. Maggie loved the fact that people got together and enjoyed a day of sharing and caring but here? she would not get that. She hadn’t even spoken with someone since her second day when one of the mean girls told her she was stupid for using words they didn’t even understand. She had forced herself since then to only talk like a child her age would, in other words — barely.

Margaret was still in her bed, back against the wall holding on Tutu and hiding her tears in the soft fur of her soft stuffed animal. She had been moved to an individual room and she still hasn’t figured it if it was a curse or a blessing. A curse because she couldn’t connect with anyone else, a blessing because she could do whatever the hell she wanted in her room. As the thought crossed her mind, there was a knock on her door and before she could tell whoever was behind the door to leave her, the door was being pushed open. Margaret was quick to hide Tutu under the cover of her bed and dried her cheeks with her sleeves before turning back to the person that had entered the room with a smile because she had been given an education and not any education, a Virtue one and Maggie intended to make her mom proud even if she could not see it. She’ll tell her one day, she’d promised herself.

“Hi Margaret, we were expecting you down in the living room for gift opening. Why don’t you join us now?” asked Adelaide, or tried to make it sounds like a question when in reality it was an order, one she wasn’t keen to follow through but she didn’t have any other options, did she? She pushed herself up and ignoring the lady in her room walked out of the room and waited for her to walk out as well before closing and locking her room. She had learned pretty early on that anything that wasn’t locked was free for taking. She skipped down the stairs, putting as much cheers and happiness on her face, pretending to be excited. The chatter that was going one stopped the second she entered the common area, making her feel like she was a deadly disease when in fact she was just too smart for them to appreciate. She sat at her designed seat and pulled one glass before Marie, the only nice lady of the orphanage, filled it with warm milk and gave her a plate with a chocolate muffins with a kind smile that she reciprocated. Marie had probably saved it for her because she knew the chocolate muffins were the most popular. She ate in silence, focused on her plate and a little bit lost in her own mind when a little girl she hadn’t seen before sat next to her and murmured an hello before blushing and looking down. Margaret turned her body to face her a little bit and offered her a smile before engaging in a conversation with her. She could see the girl, named Lucie — she had learned later on, was only 3 years old and her vocabulary was weak at best but Margaret could feel her little heart strings reach out for hers. The two little girls spend the rest of the morning, huddle together at the breakfast table and then on the window seat watching the snow falls in silence, just sharing smiles like they were big secrets.

Margaret had decided to take the arrival of Lucie in her life as her personal sign from the universe that her life would get better. Someone, make it God, Jesus, Fate, Coincidence, anything, had brought this little ball of innocence in her life and Maggie promised herself and anyone who would listen that she would protect her. The spent Christmas together, sharing secrets and giggles. Margaret spent the afternoon telling her stories — some invented, some that she remembered from her mother’s story book. The day had turned over drastically going from being the worst to being kind of great. She wasn’t alone anymore, she had a friend but her happiness was never supposed to last. She was still in an orphanage in the end, and by the third morning Margaret went to Lucie’s room to wake her up, she couldn’t find her or any of her belongings and just like this… Margaret knew that Lucie had been adopted and that she would never see the other girl ever again.


	3. slowly, with many lost days, i come back to life

 

Margaret knew Christmas was next, they had just celebrated Thanksgiving and Halloween, the next holiday was Christmas and she didn’t how to ask her dad about her mom. She didn’t want to spend Christmas without her mother — she couldn’t let that happen but she needed to accept that it was her life now. She couldn’t force her father to invite her mother, but she really, really, really hoped he would.

She had sat down with her Nana and talked about it with her. It was so liberating to be able to talk like she used to before the horrible place she stayed at but they had conclude that Margaret needed to be the one expressing her needs and feelings. She knew her dad wouldn’t be upset or anything like that but it felt like such a big thing to ask. Her parents had gotten closer in the few months since Margaret had skated to her mother’s arms at the Ilderton Skating Club but it didn’t necessarily mean he would like to spend Christmas with her and logistically speaking it would be so much hard too. She knew that Scott and her were going to Ma’s house on the 25, and that Kate would celebrate on the 24 with her children. She just wanted to spend one hour with her mommy on Christmas morning.

A week before the day, she decided it was time to talk to her daddy. She walked up to his home office and knock on the door, pushing it open a little to see if he was busy before entering the room she was rarely in. It was so sleek and dark and moody. She didn’t really like it here as it reminded her of the orphanage’s office but it was Scott’s office anyway not her playroom. “Cot?” Sometimes, Margaret couldn’t make herself call Scott her daddy and calling him Scott was such a mood killer that she ended up calling him Cot, still doing so every other time.

“Mmh baby girl?” He had turned with his chair, looking at her while holding a pen in his hand before lowering it to the desk and opening his arms for her to snuggle into. The little girl didn’t miss one beat and ran to the chair before he pulled her up on his knees. “What’s up, Maggie Bee?” Maggie giggled at one of the many, many nicknames her dad had for her. She snuggled into his chest, hiding her face from his reaction. “Iantmommatopendsmaswius”

“You gotta repeat that without your face smashed to my shirt, big girl.” Scott played with her hair, letting her know he was in a good mood and that it would be okay. She pushed herself back up, trusting Scott to keep her from falling back. Eyes locked together, she pressed her hands to his chest and, deep breathe in, hold for 3, exhale for 5. “I want momma with us on Christmas Morning.”

 

* * *

 

 

Scott, 10:34 am — **“hope you have nothing planned on Christmas morning, your daughter demand your presence.”**

Tessa, 11:42am — **“I’m free and would love to be there with you, guys!”**

Scott, 11:43am — **sent an image.**

Tessa clicked on the photo, waiting as it downloaded before a giggle escaped her in the middle of the shop. On the photo, Margaret was mid-jump arms up and the most excited look on her face and what look like the loudest scream going on.

Tessa, 11:52 — **“you can tell our monster that I’ll be there with her special present. She’ll know what I mean.”**

Tessa’s phone started to vibrate in her hand and she was fast to slide right to accept the video call coming from Scott’s phone. She knew it wouldn’t be Scott though so when her daughter’s face appeared she was happy to oblige in an impromptu chat with her. “Are you really gonna get me my special present?” Tessa could see the emotion building in her daughter’s gaze. “Of course, I have the one from last year too! I’ll give you both on the 25th!” Tears slid down her cheeks after hearing her mother’s words. Tessa hadn’t forgotten about their tradition and not even last year when they hadn’t been together for very long. “I can’t wait to see them, mommy.” Tessa smiled when she saw Scott appear in the frame, wrapping his strong arms around Margaret, surely to comfort her and protect her. “I can’t wait for you to see them, Monkey.” They talked on the video call until a customer entered the boutique and Tessa was forced to hang up, not without promising to see them again this week before coming over for gift opening.

Tessa, 4:23pm — **“Just closed the shop. Do you need me to bring anything for Friday?”**

Scott, 5:37pm — **“Sorry for the late reply, we had an issue with Maggie’s skate at the rink. Just bring yourself, it’s already more than we deserve.”**

Tessa blushed at the text. She knew he wanted more, hell she wanted more but she also needed to take it slow — build their relationship correctly and for the right reasons, not just because they had a daughter together. Shaking her head, she focused on finished the Hello Fresh recipe she had chosen for tonight, once everything was under control she took her phone back and be welcomed by a series of new texts.

Scott, 5:44pm — **“Sorry, was it too much?”**

Scott, 5:47pm — **“You probably think I’m an idiot. I’m sorry, T.”**

Kate, 5:50pm — **“Hey Tessa, hope you had a wonderful day. I wanted to check in and tell you that your brothers will be part of Christmas dinner but won’t be able to make it to midnight Mass, so I wanted to know if you still wanted to go? xx”**

Tessa immediately felt bad for ditching her mother, but she would never be able to wake up early enough to drive to Scott’s on Christmas morning. She had started to write a text back to her mother when she had a crazy idea.

Tessa, 6:10pm — **“Hi Mom, Good! I’m excited to see them. Are we talking about Ilderton midnight Mass, here? Margaret asked for me to be here on her Christmas morning and we both know I won’t wake up early enough to drive from London to Ilderton if I go with you. Let me ask Scott something, I’ll get back to you. xx”**

Tessa, 6:25 — **“Scott, stop doubting yourself. It wasn’t too much. It was cute. I was just preparing dinner and then my mom texted me, speaking of which, I need to ask you something — My mom and I usually go to the midnight Mass in Ilderton, but with me driving in the morning to your place, I wouldn’t get much sleep and ask Maggie, she knows how Grumpy!Tessa is no fun at all. So… would it be a problem for me to sleep in the guest room?”**

Kate, 6:26pm — **“Yes, Ilderton!”**

Scott, 6:39pm — **“Of course not, it wouldn’t, silly girl. You know you’re always welcome in our home, Kiddo.”**

Tessa, 7:01pm — **“Hi Mom, I’ll come to the Mass with you, but you’ll have to drive as I’m staying over at Scott right after. I’ll find a way to get back to London after, don’t worry about it. x”**

Margaret was in her room, coloring in her coloring book when Scott entered the room and sat on her bed. “So..I have good news for you, miss Virtue Moir.” She hummed, not in the lease interested in the news as it would usually involve her moving or doing something and she was too tired to do anything. “You don’t want to hear it?” Asked Scott, sliding down on the floor and looking more closely at her coloring. She had gotten so much better in the past few weeks. Maggie shrugged, not looking up at her dad. “Well then, I won’t tell you that Mommy is coming over the night before Christmas.” Scott pushed himself up and started to walk out of her room. He was about to close the door when his words registered and she squealed so loud he got concerned for a minute about his earbuds.

 

* * *

 

 

Scott had told her not to stay up because first, Santa wouldn’t come if she wasn’t asleep and second, her mother would arrive way too late but Margaret couldn’t listen. She needed to see her mother with her own eyes and then she would sleep. She had promised herself and Tutu.

Tessa, 1:13am — **“Just got out, my mom is gonna drop me off in 10! Is Maggie asleep?”**

Scott, 1:15am — **“Can’t wait to see you, baby. And no, your daughter is awake. I can hear her move around in her room. Do you think that she thinks she’s subtle about it or..?”**

Tessa, 1:16 — **“Probably, she’s not my daughter for nothing. See you babe.”**

Scott was in the living room, waiting for Tessa to arrive. He had hoped that his daughter would have listen so he would have been able to spend a little time with Tessa only but it was a lost cause. Anytime Tessa was mentioned or part of the equation, Maggie would disobey all the time to make sure to talk or see or just defend her mother. He got a text from Tessa that she was walking up the path when he heard the pitter patter of Maggie’s feet on the stairs. She ran straight past him, not caring one bit that she wasn’t supposed to be up and collided with her mother the second the door opened, forcing a laugh out of her mother. “You should be in bed, asleep, Margaret.” She tried to keep a stern face on but the fact that her little girl was so willing to stay up six hours past her bedtime to see her warmed her heart to no end. “I know, but I wanted to see you and I was too excited to sleep.” She pulled on her mother jacket and wrapped her arms around her in a rapid hug, pressing a kiss to the tip of his nose. “I saw you, now I can go to sleep. Good night Daddy! Good night Mommy!” The little girl ran back up the stairs and jumped into her bed, grabbed Tutu and fell asleep before Tessa or Scott could react to what had just happened.

Tessa and Scott were looking at each other, dumbfounded before Tessa finally moved to take her coat off and tiptoed her shoes. She turned around just in time for Scott’s hug, wrapping her own arms around his waist and squeezing. “I missed you, T.” She hid her smiled in his shoulder, pressing closer. “Me too.” She felt him move, shivers running down her spine as his plush lips met the naked skin of her collarbones. “Scott..” He hummed in responses, before pulling away and looking at her eyes. “Don’t.. we need to sleep.” As Tessa was speaking those words, her body was leaning against his to get closer. Her forehead found his, and a smile grew on her face when his arms hugged her closer. “Tess.. your mouth say one thing but your body another, how am I supposed to know what you really want?”

“I’m sorry, I just, I missed you a little bit too much, I think.” blushing profusely, Tessa just admitted her biggest secret —Tessa hated being vulnerable but she had to learn to be. She slot herself against his body, pressing her face to his neck and breathing him in. “I’m so complicated.” She shrugged but he just laughed at her. “It works for me, alright.” Tessa and Scott stayed in this position until he decided to get them to bed — the same bed, because none of them were willing to separate just yet.


	4. together

Maggie had fallen asleep in her mother arms during the movie she had chosen for their usual Friday movie night — Scott had been adamant to change their routine even if it was Christmas. As usual during those viewings, Maggie would alternate between Scott and Tessa. They both sat next to each other and holding one another but she liked being in one of them arm’s. She was sleeping when her mother pulled her closer and stood up as she kept her in her arms and started to climb the stairs up to get her to room, but the sudden movement Tessa made because she had automatically turned to the left to go to her room had woken up and Maggie had closed her arms tighter a9 round her neck. “I don’t wanna sleep alone, Momma…” whimpered the seven years old. Tessa who couldn’t refuse anything when it came to her daughter turned around and head to her and Scott’s bedroom only to find her man in there taking his shirt off for the night. She deposited Maggie on the bed and this one, just crawled to her mother’s pillow before curling on a ball — only moving when Scott pulled the cover down and forced her to go under.

“not funny daddy” mumbled the little girl who was already falling back asleep, completely missing the entire exchange between her parents. Tessa had already switched to her pajamas before the movie and was able to slip in right after Maggie, curving her body behind her little girl, wrapping one arm around her tiny waist and letting her hand fall on his chest, curling around his ribs. “You know, she’ll wake us up at the crack of dawn, right?” asked Scott, turning on his side to face the loves of his life. “I know, but she did the koala bear thingy and I couldn’t say no to her — Don’t act so surprised, Scott Moir, you would have caved even faster than I did.” fired back Tessa when she saw his eager face turn into a smirking one. That man was always the first to tease her but he never realized what a pushover he really was when it came to Maggie or even herself. Margaret turned around in the hold of her mother, pressing her face to her chest all the while frowning and groaning. “stop talking, you big mouthes” She had wrapped her arms around her mother neck as tight as she could while still being comfortable. “as you said, i’ll wake you up before the sun is up and you’ll be the grumpy ones.” She fell asleep right after finishing her words, sentence slurred with sleep already. Tessa looked down, stunned. She was in awe of her daughter’s ability to fall asleep in a blink, no matter where she was or what was going on around her.

“Well, you heard her.” murmured Scott before he pushed himself closer to Tessa and pressed a soft kiss to her mouth — murmuring his love for her and lied back down on his back.

Tessa felt like she had only been asleep for thirty minutes when the little warm body in her arms started to wiggle out of her hold. She closed her arms around her and tried to keep her in the warm cocoon they had formed during the night. “Shh baby girl, it’s alright.” Margaret had show episode where she’ll be restless for a while and then fall back asleep as if nothing happened if one of her parents was here to keep her calm and soothed. Now that she had passed the phase where she was too scared to sleep by herself, the restlessness was getting worse and worse, but she was working on it and was determined to deal with it alone most nights. Tessa slid along the bed, making sure not to move Margaret as she moved to envelop Margaret in a real bear hug. She was about to reach out for Scott when this one stirred a little bit. As if sensing what was happening around him, Scott turned around, placing him right next to Maggie. His large hand falling to her side before sliding down between Maggie’s back and Tessa’s stomach. Tessa moved her hand under Margaret’s chin, knowing that her little girl would reach out for it in a few seconds. A smiled grew on her face when she felt five little fingers wrapped around her wrist, sliding one of her fingers around her thumb. “We’re here Monkey, we’re never going anywhere.” Margaret let go of the breathe she had been holding in and her entire body relaxed. She shuffled back against her mother, trying to get closer, always closer. There was nothing she liked more that to be close to her parents. Her free hand had let go of Tutu in favor of curling around her dad’s hair at the nape of his neck, pulling softly to get him closer.

Margaret woke up in this position the morning of Christmas and instead of jumping up and down from happiness and excited — the smallest Moir stayed there, enjoying the feeling of being enveloped between the people she loved the most. She took everything in. Her mother’s body tightly pressed against hers. Her dad’s hand slotted between Tessa and her. Her hand wrapped around her mother’s, keeping Tutu against her little chest. The feeling of the soft strand of hair between her finger where she was holding onto his hair. The soft puffs of air she could feel against her forehead from her dad and on her neck from her mother and most importantly the calmness around her and this moment. Both Scott and Tessa looked at peace and it tugged at Margaret that she rarely saw them that calm. Surprisingly, as Maggie hadn’t moved one bit since her eyes sprung open, she heard her mother’s voice but refused to acknowledge it until she felt tickles on her neck and was forced to move. “Mommy, stop. I want to keep you and daddy relaxed.”

“What do you mean baby girl?”

Maggie shrugged before turning around to face her mother and taking her face in her hands and pressing their foreheads together. “I… just that you guys are always taking care of me and you never have time to relax because I’m here all the time and I just woke up and again, from our position” — Maggie stopped talking to smile as her dad had migrated and adapted to her change of position, pressing his chest to her back and wrapping his arms around both of them. — “I had a restless moment and probably woke you up..” She looked down, ashamed to still be a problem for them.

“Margaret, look at Momma.” Tessa waited for their eyes to connect before engaging in a conversation she didn’t want to have on Christmas morning, but apparently their little girl had had too much time in her own head lately and needed to talk through it all. “Daddy and I love you very much and we’d never think of you as a problem or a nuisance. You are our daughter, our biggest pride. You had to go through some really hard things in your short life and we’re trying to help you but you gotta talk to us when it’s hard so we can help you better — no matter what time it is.”

“It’s true baby girl, Momma and I will always do our very best to make you feel better and it’s not your role to take care of us. We’re happy and we love you.”

Tessa’s arm moved and reached out to wrap around Scott’s frame, smashing Maggie between her parents once again. She closed her eyes to keep the tears from falling. Christmas wasn’t made for tears or sadness but for excitement and laugh. With that thought in mind, she moved her small hands and started to tickle her mother, forcing a squeal followed by a giggle out of her. “Margaret!” She batted her hands away and tried to pull away but she had forgotten that Scott was still hugging her. “You are not leaving this bed just yet mama bear.” Margaret squealing in delight before jumping on her mother and attacking her waist with her fingers, proudly making her laugh. With both her parents laughing, she took off and jumped off the bed not before yelling a “Race you to the tree, last one to get there isn’t allowed to open any of their gifts until after breakfast.”

She ran down the stairs, making sure to watch where she put her feet before sliding the rest of the way in her fuzzy socks to get to the tree first, proudly standing there until her parents arrived. Tessa came in flying in the living room a split second before Scott did and by the look on her father’s face and the red color around his lips she knew how her mother had won. She had kissed him breathless, or that was what Auntie Jo would have said anyway.

“Daddy, breakfast for you to make and gift for us Virtue women to open.” bossed Margaret before taking the one gift she had been the most proud of. She had specially asked Auntie Jojo to gat it with her for her mother. She had wanted something special and personal because her mom always got her the perfect little piece of jewelry for Christmas, even when they couldn’t be together. This year, Margaret had decided that she would be the one getting something as special as this bracelet. They had started looking really early one, going as far as mid august, and it had been the right path because Margaret found her precious gift on their second adventure in the most beautiful necklace. From the outside, it look like a tube and noting else but the secret was that you could open one of the side and a little note was inside. She had first thought that she would be able to replace the note and put hers inside but what was written on the note — after Jojo and Nana had explained — was the best thing ever.

**_Familia ante omnia_ **

She had then asked Jordan to take her to a place where she could engrave it. She had debated for a really long time if she should include Scott on the necklace but then decided against it. You never knew what could happen — even if she trusted like to keep them together, after all they had found each other after almost two decades. So the only name engraved on the necklace was hers, in the cutest cursive way she had written. She had wanted to personalized and none of the font they had looked like had felt right until the mister working there had proposed for her to write it and he would grave it on.

Scott had left to go the kitchen and started their breakfast and Tessa was about to follow him to help because in contrary of what everyone thought, Tessa wasn’t completely useless in a kitchen. Margaret grabbed her hand before she could as much as take one step and pulled her to the couch where she sat and then she proceeded to hand her her gift, with shaking hands.

Tessa took the gift and started to open it before pulling a shaking Maggie in her arms. She could see how nervous her daughter was and started to wonder what the gift was because Margaret wasn’t known to be openly nervous about something as futile as Christmas gifts. She delicately unwrapped the paper that was around a box and the took off the lid and she stopped breathing, tears springing to her eyes. “Oh Maggie, this is so pretty!” murmured Tessa before taking the delicate necklace in her hand and turning it around until Maggie told her to open the tub because it had a surprise inside. Tessa followed the order and the tears she had so desperately tried to keep in slid down her cheeks when her eyes connected with the inscription. “Do you know what it means momma?” Tessa looked up, the basic latin she had learn in her life had made it easy for her to understand but she wanted to see what her daughter would say. “What does it mean, Monkey?”

“It means _family above all_!”

Margaret plopped down next to Tessa, smiling at her before swiping the tears from her face — she had just recently started to understand the concept of happy tears and she knew that her mother was crying because she was overwhelmed and touched, not sad. Scott walked in the living room holding a tray for them all only to find Tessa crying softly while hugging Margaret. “What did I miss, ladies?”

“I gave momma her gift..” was the only thing Margaret said and by the soft smile that grew on her dad’s lips he had understood what it meant.


	5. we'll always have a friend in each other

It was early, earlier than any morning she had ever woken up by herself and at first she thought that something had happened, a noise or anything but after a few blissfully silent minutes, Margaret was ready to roll over and fall back asleep but as she turned around, but as her eyes adjusted to the lighter side of her room, they connected with a pair of eyes she loved just as much as her mother’s and looked the same as her father. Her little brother was the reason she had woken up. She pulled the blanket down a little bit and helped Luke to climb in the bed with her before hugging the little boy to her chest. Since the day, her parents had sat her down and told her that she would become a big sister, Margaret had taken her role really seriously. She had been the one that would constantly talk or touch the baby bump. She was the only one who was able to calm her little brother when he was agitated in her mother’s belly. She read him story, told him some and sang for him. She made sure to include him in all the celebration he missed because he was still growing up in his warmth cocoon.

Luky as she called him on the daily settled down against her sister, pressing his small face to her neck and wrapping his hand around a piece of her hair. She used to do that with her mom, Luke would only do it with Maggie. “Baby Luky.. what are you doing awake?” Luke shrugged before pressing his face closer to her sister and she knew, she’d always been able to know what was going on with her brother, that he had bad dream. She pressed a kiss to his forehead and asked if he wanted her to go wake momma or daddy? Because she would do it in a heartbeat if he asked but she would also spend the rest of the night murmur to him if that’s what he needed. Her bed was pushed against the wall and the only condition for Luky to sleep in her sister’s bed — when he sought his sister because for Luke Virtue-Moir, his sister was his biggest hero — was if he was on the wall side, so he would never roll over and fall. She sat up and Luke whimpered at the movement before he realized that she was just switching their side and when she lied down again, Luke was fast to reached for her again, pulling her arms tightly around his body. “lowe u Maggie” slurred Luke as he fell asleep once again, knowing he was safe in his big sister’s embrace.

When Scott had told Tessa to go get the kids, he didn’t think she would get them in the same room. It had been a while since Luke or Maggie had sought each other out during the night, and even longer since either of them had sought their parents. Tessa pushed the door to her daughter’s room, knowing that her little girl would be delighted to be the one to be waking her brother, but the scenery she found there was so cute it sprung tears to her eyes. Her children loved each other so much, it warmed her heart every day. She was so grateful for their relationship, because without even trying, they both got what She herself got with Scott when they were just kids. Margaret was on her side, back facing the door with five tiny fingers splayed on her back, the other hand belonging to her little boy could be seen curled around one strand of her hair. She had her arms wrapped around her brother, one under his head, the other around his back to hold him close. Her face was softly pressed to the top of his, nose hidden in his soft curly dirty blond hair. The tip of her fingers were playing with his hair at the nape of his neck, proving what Tessa already knew. She was awake and probably had been since her brother had came in — her will to make sure he was safe stronger than the tiredness she must have been feeling. Tessa walked closer and was finally able to see that Margaret was murmuring words she couldn’t hear to her brother and that Luke was blinking against her sister’s neck. Happy and warm where he was.

Tessa sat on the bed at Maggie’s back and started to play with her hair, until her fingers bumped into her son’s and waited for what was to happen. She knew it was coming, it was just a matter of when. “Hi Mommy” called Luke with his sleepy voice while Margaret turned her tired face to her mother and offered her a soft smile. “He woke up and came into my room after he had a nightmare. I’ve been keeping him safe since then, right baby Luky?” She giggle softly when her brother’s nodding head was tickling her neck. “Is it morning already Momma?” She was looking at her brother, always aware of his littlest move or shift, always ready to adjust and help him. She saw her mother nod and let go of the sigh she had been holding for the better part of the night. It was Christmas morning and they all could walk downstairs, have breakfast as a family and then they would open their gifts but for that Margaret would have to move and she didn’t think she had enough strength to do so. She flopped on her back and Luke adjusted his position to press his cheek to her shoulder and shooting a toothless grin to her mother before waving and giggling. “Hi” whispered her little boy before reaching out for his mother. “OH, so now you want mommy?” Luke nodded before pushing himself up and sitting in the bed before reaching both of his arms out for her mother to take which she did. “I’ll get him down and then I’ll come back up for you Monkey.” She held her son closer to her chest before standing and walking out of Maggie’s room.

You can close your eyes for a little while, just rest them a bit, thought Margaret before her eyes fell closed and her breathing deepened. She fell asleep without even realizing it but after spending more than half the night awake to keep her brother safe, she needed her own sleep. Tessa walked back in the room, only to find her daughter passed out, half out of her bed. She must have attempted to stay awake but had failed. Tessa slid in the bed next to her daughter, pulling her in her arms. “You need to stop protecting your brother if you’re not taking care of you, baby girl. You can’t keep doing this, or else you’ll get sick and we don’t want this.” Tessa was rambling at this point, just murmuring non-sense into her daughter’s head. She knew she needed to wake her up but she decided to give her 10 more minute of sleep, hopefully it would be enough until it was appropriate for her little girl to take a well deserved nap. It was the first Christmas she hadn’t been woken up with squeals or limbs landing on her, It had been nice but she’d rather have this any time than her daughter loosing sleep because she was too worry.

Margaret moved and hid her face in her mother’s chest. “Momma… I’m so tired. Can I keep sleeping?” She was talking in her chest, but Tessa had spent her entire life — or almost — with her and was well acquainted with Maggie’s slurs. “Not yet, you can take a nap when your brother goes down for one as well.” She pulled her closer and decided it was time to join the boys of their family. Even if Margaret was now eight and a half years old, Tessa would always make sure to be able to hold her. She moved to the edge of the bed and Margaret climbed on her back, wrapping her legs and arms around her mom’s body before this one pushed herself up and took them both down — just in time to see Luke blowing on a fist full of flour on his dad and laughing his belly laugh.

“Luky! We don’t do that on daddy!” scowled Margaret from her place on her mother’s back and both Scott and Tessa knew that they had a grumpy child in their arms. She usually wouldn’t reprimand her brother like this and even less on a silly things like this. She hid her face in her mother’s neck and apologized to her brother. “Sorry Luky, I’m just tired.” She knew that Luke was smart but he hadn’t mastered the speaking skills yet, meaning that all of the member of the family had to think about the words they used but Luke was also really good at feelings people’s mood so even if he didn’t understand the words, he usually understood the meaning behind them. Margaret slid down her mother’s back and walked up to her daddy before hugging him around the waist. “Be nice to your brother. I know you’re tired but you made the choice to not sleep, he didn’t.” Scott had always been good a showing her the light in any given moment but this morning Margaret just wanted her dad’s comfort but apparently he wasn’t willing to give it to her. “Fine, let me know when I can be myself in this house” she stomped out of the kitchen, closely followed by Luke. Tessa looked at Scott before following them to check on Margaret. She was more tired than they realized and was really taking it out on them. She understood Margaret’s reaction as Scott’s first words to her hadn’t been really nice, which she had told me before walking away too.

She found her children sitting together next to the tree, Margaret was helping Luke to organize the gifts — they had kept the same color system, adding grey for daddy and blue for Luke. Margaret was slowly and quietly explaining something to Luke when this one looked up, stood and just pulled his sister in a hug. Their heights difference put Maggie’s face right under his chin when he was standing and she was sitting. He was murmuring that he was sorry, probably for waking her up but Margaret was quick to erase his worry. She wasn’t mad at him. Never at him.


	6. it's still magic even if you know how it's done

Margaret was walking home from school. Her parents had finally allowed her to walk home by herself. Her school was only a few blocks away from their house and their neighborhood was the calmest and safest one of the city. She was walking home with her best friend, discussing what they wanted for Christmas this year when a boy from their school ran past them and laughed at their discussion, claiming that Santa wasn’t real.

Lauren and her ignored him and changed the subject of their discussion during the short walk to their houses but as soon as Margaret and Lauren separated, the little girl couldn’t stop her mind from going back to this boy’s claim. She had had her suspicions for a little bit now, but she had decided not to think to much about it. She had sneaked into the living room during Christmas a few years ago and nobody had walked in their living room. She also knew her mother was gifting her the bracelet, the jewel was not from Santa. She had also stopped writing to the big guy a few years back but still ended up with what she wanted every year. The two minutes it took her to walk from Lauren’s house to hers was enough to install a real doubt in her mind and after taking her shoes and coat off. Margaret ran up the stairs, mindful of her younger brother napping the afternoon away.

She had looked at the clock in the entryway and realized that her dad would still be at the shop while her mom would probably be working in her home office, the one room they weren’t allowed in but today, Margaret Alma Virtue-Moir was determined to get the answers to her questions. She wouldn’t leave the room without them. She knocked and pushed the door open a little bit, checking if her mother was on the phone of not — that would have been the only thing stopping her for going through with it.

She walked in, straightening up as she got closer to the big, shiny, white desk facing the equally big window of her mother’s office. She cleared her little throat to get her attention and then stopped next to her, pressing her hands on the edge of the desk. “Mom? I have a very important question.”

Tessa spin around with her chair, looking down on her little girl with a stern expression but a smirk was dancing in her green eyes — it had just been a matter of time until their brave little girl would push the boundaries they had applied since her birth. “You know, you aren’t allowed in this room —“

“But momma!” Margaret stomped her little feet on the hardwood floor, her little hands settling on her hips. “I have a really important question and I couldn’t wait to ask you or daddy, but daddy will be at work for another 2 hours because it’s Tuesday. I get off school earlier on Tuesdays, I know I’m right.” She had managed to climb on her mother lap, cautious of the spinning chair her mother was using in her office. “So what’s this big question monkey Maggie?”

Suddenly shy, Margaret looked down on her fingers. She had grabbed on the hem of the pretty sweater her mother was wearing, playing around it. She could feel the blush rising up her neck, cheeks — almost reaching the top of her head. She heard a small giggle coming from her mother and that was what convinced Margaret to look up, locking eyes with her mother.

“Is Santa real?”

It was blunt, direct and not unexpected at all. Tessa had been wondering for a little bit when this question would be asked, she would rather have Scott with her, but apparently her baby girl was growing faster than she really wanted her to. She was still taken aback by the moment. Christmas was still two whole months away but as always, Margaret had been preparing for this event a lot earlier than any other kids. “Why are you asking me this, baby girl?”

“this dude from school —“ a booming laugh escaped her mother’s lips and as always a proud expression appeared on the kid’s face. Margaret loved being the reason of her mother’s happiness, laughter and even of her smiles. “As I was saying mom.” Margaret arched a brow, smirking away. “this dude from school heard Lauren and I talk about Christmas and what we wanted as gifts. She shrugged her little shoulders as if it was no big deal to talk about Christmas in the middle of September. “He was behind us and just ran past us and yelled than Santa wasn’t real… so, is he? fake, I mean.”

She moved closer, trying to get a direct look in the green eyes so similar from hers. She would be able to see if she was lying. “What do you think? Do you think the big guy is real?” Tessa watched as Margaret shrugged but a determined look took over her face. “I don’t think so anymore. I know you are the one behind the bracelet and I haven’t written any letters to Santa in forever and I still get what I want. And I only tell you and daddy about this, or Nana and Ma. So I think he’s not real but I gotta keep it a secret because Luke thinks he’s real still.” She looked at her mother with a small smirk on her pink lips, pressing their foreheads together. She pressed her fingers under Tessa’s chin to close her open mouth. Her mother’s reaction was all she had needed to know she was indeed correct in her assumption and explanation.

“Well.. Maggie, it seems you solved the entire enigma. I’m sorry to tell you that Santa is not real. It’s just a little myths parents tell their kids. I’m not sure when it happened or how but I’m not gonna lie to you — ever again.”

Scott entered the office, finding his two girls sitting and murmuring together. He didn’t know what they were talking about but he didn’t waste any minutes to wrap his arms around them. “Hi there my pretty princesses.”

“Daddy! I solved the Santa story!” Margaret jumped up and into her daddy's arm, knowing that he would always catch her. She wrapped her arms around his large shoulders. “I’m a big girl for real now!"

Scott looked at Tessa, eyebrow up on his forehead before his brain connected the dots. “Ohh… you discovered the big guy’s secret?” He watched her little girl nod her head with the biggest smile on her face. “Yes, daddy! I did.”


	7. miscommunication leads to complication

Margaret was missing every things from home. The conflicts that seemed to go one for hours with They way they used to always find a way to upset or reprimand her or that she would always find a way to upset them back. She missed her siblings, their past relationship when she was still their favorite, when Luke sought her out instead of their parents… She wanted her sister to not like her again. She wanted to go back to the baby girl and the monkey, not this hard version of her entire name, Mar-ga-ret. There was no Maggie anymore, not Mags, nothing. just plain and old Margaret and it hurt more than she thought it would if she was being honest with herself.

It was Christmas break at school, meaning that it was finally time to go home and spend the entire week at home for the first time in the past semester. School had been such a bitch and literally wouldn’t allow her to take the 2h commute back home. She had made sure not to plan anything during this week to spend as much time with her family as possible but it seemed like she wasn’t part of said family anymore. She arrived on Friday night as she had texted her mom earlier this week to find the house empty, a note on the counter saying they had gone out for the night. She had ended up crying herself to sleep in her childhood bedroom.

The second day she was woken up by a knock on her door and her dad’s voice saying they needed to get moving because apparently the fam had planned something and if she wanted to come she would have to move. She sprang from her bed and got ready in record time before skipping down the stairs. She was excited nonetheless to join her family but when she walked in the lobby of their houses and only received by looks from her siblings and a barely there look from her mom, her heart broke a little bit more after that.

The day after this, Sunday, has always been a Moir family festivity. When she was younger, they would be barbecues in the summer and mashed potatoes in the winter. On this fine Sunday, none of this happened. Margaret woke up, checked her phone for her finals exams, squealed when all she got back were A or A*. She got up slowly, and walked down the stairs. She smiled when she found her mom in the kitchen, maybe it was time for them to talk and smooth things over. “Hey mom!” said with an happy grin. “I don’t have time right now, Margaret. I gotta be late.” Frowning, Maggie knew her mom wasn’t working during Christmas break and turned around to face her. “Okay, what the hell is wrong with all of you?” exclaimed Margaret as tears were starting to fall down her cheeks. “If you don’t want me here anymore, just say the freaking words. I’d rather know than wonder!” With that, Margaret ran back to her room, packed a small bag and grabbed her skate bag before running out of the door to the bus stop at the end of their street. As soon as she was on the bus, she called grandma Moir, asking if she could skate for a little bit.

She had spent the night at the Moir’s house after skating the entire afternoon away. She wasn’t willingly walking back into this house if her own family didn’t want her. She couldn’t believe she had gifted her mother with a “Familia ante Omnia” and she had completely forgotten about her or whatever what was going on in her head. She was sitting at the breakfast table, nibbling on the pancakes her Ma had made for her when the main door opened on Scott who looked like he could have murdered her. “Who do you think you are Margaret? Leaving the house like this and not responding to any of our texts?” Margaret didn’t even turn to look at him, but took her phone and showed him the empty screen, proving that no text had been received from them or anyone. “Maggie, look at me.” She turned around, fist tightly closed at her side. “No, Dad. I will not look at you. You guys have completely forgotten about me or whatever. I am not the one at fault here, I came back Friday to an empty house. Saturday, I get treated like complete shit by everyone, including you. Yesterday, I got my finals results back and wanted to tell mom about it because she was the only one at home — and what the hell again? Sundays have always been a family day, what happened to that? — and mom told me she didn’t have time because she was gonna be late. LATE FOR WHAT, DAD?” She had stepped closer to her dad, fist tapping against his chest every so often. “TELL ME WHAT I DID TO DESERVE TO BE NEGLECTED BY THE PEOPLE I LOVE MOST?!” Alma was standing beside her, one hand on her shoulder — to keep her there or to support her, she didn’t know yet and she was passed caring. She saw how Scott flinched at her accusations, before looking down and sighing. “Mags, we love you, always.” She openly laughed at that before taking her already packed bag, pressed a kiss to Alma’s cheek before jogging to the nearest bus stop. She didn’t care of her dad was going the same direction, she would not get in this car with him.

Tuesday was spent as she usually would at school, locked in her room under millions of papers and researches but today, she was looking back at all the emails, texts, letters, cards, everything that had been sent and received to and from her family. She wanted to know what had happened because the most surprising part of it all, was that she couldn’t understand what had happened. She knew she’d had been less than friendly lately, a proper stressed monster but her family was supposed to know her, and her mood. It had never been something personal against them. A knock on her door surprised her and the small voice of her younger brother asking if he could come in was even more surprising. As always when it came to her baby Luky, Margaret was unable to refuse him anything and she forged herself for the exchange that was coming. She unlocked the door, and pulled it open a little bit. Luke was holding a tray with a tall glass of water, a banana and her favorite guacamole toast. “Thanks Luke.” He offered her a smile, put the tray on the side of her desk, wrapped his arms around her waist before walking out of the room. She fell asleep on her desk, face stuck to printed emails, a half eaten banana and dried tears on her face.

Wednesday finally came and before the rest of the family was up, she snuck out and joined her childhood friends for a day of adventures like they used to be. She hadn’t planned on going with them but after the really welcoming atmosphere in her own home, she had called them back and asked if she could still joined. At least people were genuinely happy to see her and spend time with her. She hadn’t seen her dad since the scene at Alma, nor her mom since Sunday. The only person she had told or rather texted where she was, was Luke because he had tried to reach out at least. She got a text back from her younger brother mid afternoon stating that mom and dad were pissed at her for not letting them know and ruining their plans — funny how they couldn’t even reach out themselves. It was truly pathetic and she couldn’t wait to go back to school. She had already checked and she could actually go back the day after tomorrow, right before Christmas.

Margaret, 16:46pm — **“Whatever, i’ll be home later. It’s not like they care anyway.”**

the dip next to her hip was heavy enough to wake her up, she rolled over only to meet a warm body. She jumped up and sat on her bed, clutching the cover to her chest as she tried to calm her racing heart. “what the actual hell, mom? Since when do you come in at the crack of dawn after ignoring your daughter for almost a week?” She moved away, and started to pull her clothes on, swapping her pajamas for actual clothes. She wasn’t even looking at her mother, her decision had been made she was going back to campus, she had texted one of her friends and asked if she could crash at her place since the campus was closed till Christmas day. She threw her pajamas in her suitcase and closed it. “You win, Tessa. I’m leaving. Don’t expect to see me anytime soon.” She had planned to take the 11am train back but since she was up at — she stopped to look at her phone — 6:22 am, she would take advantage of that early call. She pulled her suitcase behind her, making as much noise as she could and walked past a stunned Scott Moir before reaching the lobby and pulling her boots on. She had booked an Uber and it was meant to arrive any time now.

She had turned off her phone the second she had entered the train to Toronto. She didn’t want to be tempted or discouraged. She was gonna live her life like she wanted to and nobody would get in her way. She arrived in Toronto Union Station and where was supposed to be her friend was her mother. Tears running down her cheeks, shaking with pent up emotions but Maggie was not in the mood. She walked up to her, stopped a few feet away. “What do you want?” Tessa looked back in the direction of the parking lot and started walking. This discussion was too private to happen in public, so Margaret followed her to their car. She climbed in the back seat just as her mother had done, and turned around to face her mother. “So?” She arched her brow. “You finally realized you had three kids instead of two?” Tessa reached out and grabbed her hand, touching her after more than six months without contact. Automatically her hand closer around her mother’s and the tears started falling, faster and faster. She couldn’t stop, she didn’t want to stop. She was finally letting go. “Why, mom? just tell me why.” Taking off her shoes, she pulled her feet up on the seat, hugging her knees.

“I don’t know Mags… you acted like you didn’t needed us. You went to school and for the past six months we almost didn’t hear anything from you. Anna cried over you… Anna, the little girl that would have never cried over you, because you two were too different to connect in any way. “ Tessa wiped her cheeks with her sleeve, trying to keep their eyes lock. It was time for them to talk, and she knew she was in the wrong too but both Scott and her had thought they were doing what she wanted. “Luke was so devastated, he stopped talking to us for two weeks. He was failing at school, he stopped hanging out with his friends and he started to close himself off. Charlotte had been the only one able to convince him to keep fighting, that it was just a phase and that you would come back to us.” As Tessa described her younger brother struggle in life without her, Margaret couldn’t stop the sobs anymore — falling forward, seeking the comfort only her mother could give her. “I’m so, so sorry we made you feel like you weren’t welcomed. I, we, love you so much.” Tessa wrapped her arms around her baby girl, pulling her almost on her laps with the strength both women used to hug the other. “I thought you hated me, all of you.” Margaret sniffled, hiding her face in her neck. “I didn’t understand.. why did you do that? Why didn’t you ask? You’ve always taught me that communication is key. Why didn’t you tell me? emailed? called? texted? visited? You had a million solutions but you chose to ignore the situation.” Her tears had calmed down as she was speaking, her anger taking over once more. “School kicked my ass, and I had to deal with work stress, and that guy that is still trying to date me even if I told him I wasn’t interested, and on top of that my family went radio silence when I most needed you.” She pulled herself upright and looked at her mom. “I’m sorry for not reaching out but your life was still being the same, you all were able to keep your routine while all of my life was being turn over.” Grabbing her mother’s necklace, she played with it. “You gave up on me, mom. You chose the rest of your family — not including me.”

Tessa slid on the backseats, wrapping her arms around her oldest child, her right hand automatically playing with her hair. She pulled it out of the bun her daughter had pulled it in for her trip, disentangling the brown strand of hair. “I’m so sorry monkey. I didn’t realized you needed us. You’ve always been so smart, independent. We didn’t want you to feel like we were overstepping, we didn’t want to overwhelm you.” Tessa kept murmuring how sorry she was, and how much she loved her — that was the only things she could say to try to convince her daughter of her truth.

Margaret pressed herself as close to her mother as possible, arms wrapped around her shoulder, face pressed to her nook — because none of her siblings had used it. She took the time to get her emotions back together, she knew their problem wasn’t solved but it was a start. Her mom had reached out and now it was his turn.

“Momma… let’s go home.”


	8. Joyeux Noël

The family of five had just arrived in the Airbnb they would call home for the next month or so. Tessa had had an opportunity to travel to Paris for work and she had taken the entire Virtue-Moir gang with her – as if Margaret had wanted to spend a month in France with none of her friends. She was happy to be here, but a month?! She was going to be crazy and as if to prove her point, Anna walked past her, grumbling about her older sister. Margaret rolled her eyes and walked to her room, the one her parents had chosen for her. They had realized that with three demanding kids, it was easier and manageable if they were responsible for the room choice. She had ended up with her bigger one and the balcony, while Anna got the view of the city and Luke got the duplex one.

She rolled her suitcase to her room and started to unpack. She knew better than to start an argument with her sister now. They still had the entire holidays to spend together before Maggie would be off to campus once more where her relationship with Anna would get better. The next two weeks were spend between shopping sprees and activities with her family. Anna was still being a sassy teenagers and she couldn’t wait to go back to school with her friends and no sister to deal with.

One night as she was getting ready for bed, her parents knocked and walking in the room. They sat on her bed with her and Margaret frowned, not knowing what she had done to deserve a parents/daughter meeting at 10 o’clock at night. She tried to think of anything she could have done but the only think she could think of was the question she had asked earlier during their dinner which hadn’t been different than any other nights for the past weeks. She had asked what the plan for the following day was. She knew her dad tended to forget to tell them and her mom was already gone by the time the family woke up. “Concerning your question about the plan for tomorrow… your dad and I decided to let you explore on your own.”

Surprisingly, Margaret gaped at them before diving into their arms. She couldn’t believe she was free to do as she pleased for the last week of their trip on the condition to spend Christmas with them.

Scott left the room first and let his wife and daughter giggle and speak about what their older child wanted to see and visit. He knew she must have had taken her list of things to do and places to visit, she was Tessa’s daughter after all. Margaret and her mother talked for hours and hours, falling asleep curled together above the cover. The next morning, Margaret followed her mother to work as she wanted to see what her mother had been doing while here and then she left to visit the east side of Paris, just wandering in the street.

She spend the next 3 days visiting museums, walking into boutiques, discovering hidden passage in the city, eating too much breads and crepes. Her happiness was too big for her to contain so when she walked home one evening, she immediately launched into her daily tale, giddy to let them know what she had seen, done and eaten. She was equally excited to hear about their day. The family exchanged pleasantries around dinner until it was time for them to go to sleep. They all knew that Luke would be the first one up tomorrow and he would make sure to wake the entire family with his excitement for Christmas.

“They let you go out alone because you’re not really their daughter so they don’t care about you” murmured Anna as she was walking back to her room. Tears were building in her eyes but she refused to show them to her sister. She was just looking for a way to hurt her and this time it had worked. She knew she was just jealous but even on Christmas Eve, Anna wasn’t able to shut up. She closed the door to her room and lied in bed and opened the book she had been reading, trying to calm the rage in her. Her hands were shaking, her breathings irregular and shallow – her anger wasn’t going anywhere. She pushed herself up and threw her book against the wall, forgetting that it was the one connected to her parents’ room. She got dressed and before she could overthink anything, she left her room and the Airbnb – only to be stopped at the door by Tessa. “Where are you going?”

“Where people care about me.” She didn’t want to be petty, but she had been struggling a lot with this issue in the past and she had thought it was in her past but apparently not. She didn’t give her mother time to respond before opening and closing the door behind her and rushing down the stairs. She had one last activity to do on her list and it was the Eiffel tower by night and the Champs Elysees, which she had planned on doing on their last night here but tonight was as good as any. She had ordered an Uber and was waiting for it to arrive when the door of their building opened and without looking back, she knew it was Scott. She felt his arms wrap around her shoulder and she let go of the anger and tension she was feeling. “We love you, so much. Be safe.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before letting go and opening the door of her vehicle. She climbed in, mouthing a silent “Thank you” before the car took off, and Margaret Alma Virtue Moir was on her own to explore Paris by night. She had asked the driving to drop her off at Trocadero.

She was walking around, looking for an open stand to buy herself a hot chocolate when a young man stole her attention. She smiled shyly at him before continuing on her path. She didn’t know what had pushed her to smile at him but she had done it and it had made her feel better. She walked down the stairs to get to the garden when she felt a presence next to her and she looked on her left only to meet the warmest green eyes she had ever seen. The light around them hit his face in the most attractive way and Margaret could feel her walls coming down already. “Hi, my name is Jules.” Said the man with a slight French accent, holding his hand out for her to take. “I’m Maggie!” offered Margaret with a smile. She grabbed his hand and what he did next surprised her so much, she couldn’t stop the laugh escaping her mouth. He had just kissed the back of her hand. “Doesn’t it only happen in movies?”

The young man – Jules – shrugged before smiling. “I promise I’m real.” She couldn’t stop laughing at his semi seriousness. She started walking again, hoping, and praying that he would follow her. Jules did and soon, the duo was walking down the garden, approaching the Grand Iron Lady. Margaret and Jules slowed down without realizing they had done it. Margaret was admiring the beauty of the spectacle in front of her, turning to look back towards Jules, stars in her eyes and the biggest smile on her face. She heard the shutter of a camera and pivoted on herself. “Did you just take a photo of…me?” He nodded before showing her the cliché and Margaret wrapped her arms around him in an impulsive move. It had been quite a while since someone had done something nice to her without wanting anything in return. “Merci Jules” whispered Maggie.

The duo kept wandering around the city together, learning all about one another. She learned that Jules had just finished his literature studies and was now attempting to write a novel. She also learn that he was speaking English because he had lived in Canada for five years when he was younger. She learned that he was a passionate man and tend to be a little be too honest and forward. She had learnt that last one when he had grabbed her hand after a little bit of time of them walking side by side. She had told him she was still studying communication and psychology but was soon done with the basic and would soon start her master followed by her thesis. She had also told him about her weird childhood and Jules called it fate, just like them because they were both looking for something but didn’t know what until they had smiled at each other on the Trocadero. This had earned him a chaste kiss and a giggle. She was the one linking their hands and fingers together after that, trusting him to take her wherever he wanted. She pressed her head to his shoulder and her own prince charming wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her closer to his chest. They walked through the entire avenue of the Champs Elysees, with Jules giving her facts about the city and different myths about it. She was giggling too much and Jules found that the only way to silence her was to use his lips. Margaret had never been kissed before this magical night in Paris. She couldn’t regret it. Not once the cute boy had asked to go back to his place, respecting her too much for that. They walked and talked, until the sun was ready to rise and the couple had found a place in another garden, standing together. She took her phone out of her pocket for the first time since she had left, to find a multitude of texts from her mom, dad, brother and even her sister but she ignored them all in order to take a selfie with the man she was slowly falling in love with.

Once the sun was fully out, warming their cold nose, Margaret turned around in his arms and pressed a final kiss to his lips. It was time for her to go back home. She opened and closed her mouth, unable to speak the words that would inevitably break her heart. “You have to go… I knew this night couldn’t last forever but let me walk you home?” She nodded and the couple was soon on its way back to her Airbnb. She had fired a text to her mom just letting her know that she was on her way home before leaning back against Jules. She wasn’t ready to say goodbye or to part from him. She slipped her hand in his pocket and took his phone, entering her contact information, including her Skype username, Instagram handle and Facebook account. She blushed when she realized that she hadn’t been as subtle as she thought. He kissed her in the middle of the street, a street totally visible from the main window of the living room, a window she knew her mother was behind, anxiously waiting for her baby girl. She broke the kiss and hid her face in his chest, sighing in contentment when his arms wrapped around her. “We’ll see each other, Margaret. I am not letting you go, ever.” They walked to the door of her building, both of them facing the other, hands attached and foreheads together. “Merci pour le plus merveilleux des Noël.” She smiled at him and pressed a final kiss to his soft lips before pushing the door of the building open and sliding in without looking back. She walked up the stairs and wasn’t even surprised to find her mother at the top of the stairs, sitting there.

“Momma…” whispered Margaret as the tears she had held in for the last hour finally slid down her cheeks. She fell in her mother’s waiting arms as she sobbed over her unsure future in love. Tessa who had watched her daughter and that young boy in the street, knew exactly what her daughter was going through and she trusted her enough not to do anything she would regret. She wrapped her arms around her daughter, pulling her tighter into her chest. “It will be alright, and if it’s truly meant to be, you’ll both make it work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Merci pour le plus merveilleux des Noël" = "Thank you for the most amazing Christmas"


	9. you and me. forever. please?

Margaret was waiting at the arrivals of the local airport. Jules was due any minutes now and she couldn’t contain her excitement to see him again after six months apart. They had met two years earlier, in Paris, when her mother had had to travel there for work and the entire family had tagged along. Her parents were waiting for them at a nearby café — giving her the space to reconnect with her boyfriend. It had taken them some time to accept the fact that she had a boyfriend now and agree to her request. Chuckling, she couldn’t stop her thoughts from going back to that day.

 

 

 

**FLASHBACK**

_Margaret was pacing back and forth in front of her mother’s office. She knew her mother could hear her but she needed the time to compose herself before walking in. She was listening to the tick tock of her watch, counting up until she reached sixty and knock on the door. “Come in” she heard her mother said as she pushed the door open. “Hi Mom!” exclaimed Margaret with way too much enthusiast, her voice higher than usual. “I thought I would have to wait another hour before you would come in.” teased her mother before she turned around on her chair, the same one that used to be so scary to her when she was younger. Margaret walked up to the desk and smiled as she spotted the place her mother had cleaned for her on her desk before she pulled herself up and crossed her legs. She might have been nineteen but in the end, she was still her mother’s monkey._

_Tessa who could sense her daughter’s distress, pressed a hand to her leg and squeezed. “You can tell me anything, monkey. I’ll listen and we’ll talk about it.” Margaret put her hand above her mother’s, slipping her fingers in between hers to hold onto the strength she had always associate with her mother. She was breathing slowly and deeply, taking the time to get her thoughts in order — she didn’t want to just blurt it out, but somehow she knew it was going to happen, no matter how much she had prepared for this moment. Margaret and Tessa had always been close and they always had an open communication but since she had started dating Jules, the communication had somehow broken up a little bit… as if the fact that she had taken the final step in the growing spectrum had created a breach in their relationship. And the fact that she had met him on a night in Paris, came back to their place there kissing him didn’t help her. Her mother had always been supportive and present, pushing her to pursue her dreams in life and love, so when Margaret had told her that Jules and her wanted to try the long distance relationship because both of them knew in their heart that they were it — even at the age of seventeen and eighteen. She had probably didn’t think it would last for as long as it had, because now, two years into it and yearly trip to France for her little girl, their relationship was stronger than ever._

_“I just gotta say it, right?” asked Margaret out of the blue, she had been silent and lost in her own world for a little bit. Taking Tessa by surprise when words had been spoken. She watched as her mother offered her a soft smile and a squeeze of hand._

_“Can Jules come and spend Christmas with us?” She had locked her green eyes on the similar one of her mother’s face, biting her lips too tight it hurt. “Oh, Mags, of course you can!” Bright stars appeared in her mother’s eyes and Margaret let her shoulders relaxed against the warm welcome of her request. She knew she had a really good chance in getting this reaction but she never could be too sure. She leaned forward and fell in Tessa’s arms, smile hidden in her shoulder. “Thanks Momma.”_

 

 

 

 

She was pulled from her thoughts when the first people of his flights walked through their automatic doors. Her eyes narrowing on the opening staring at all the strangers walking by. She only cared about one and when he walked passed. She squealed out his name before running to him, barely missing people before she could throw herself in his arms. “Mon amour!” whispered Jules in the crook of her neck. “I missed you so much.” Margaret had wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, holding him to her. She couldn’t believe he was here with her, finally. She moved her fingers to his hair, playing with it softly before pulling on it to get him to look at her. “Embrasse-moi, mon coeur.” Jules didn’t need to be asked twice before he pressed his mouth to hers, taking the time to relearn what his body knew already. Her soft lips parted under the pressure of his and he slipped his tongue in the warmth of her mouth, playing with her tongue until a throat clearing was heard in the background with a murmur that kids were around and needn’t to see this. They broke apart with a laugh before falling together again, arms wrapped around the other as tightly as they could. “I can’t believe you’re here!”

Margaret couldn’t seem to part from Jules, not even for a second. Her hand had latched onto his and she wasn’t planning on ever letting it go for a little longer. Right before reaching the café, her parents were waiting at, she pulled on the hand she was holding, offering him a smile before pressing a kiss to his lips. “I won’t be able to do that with my dad around” murmured Maggie with her lips still pressed to his. She pushed on her tiptoes, reaching higher, pressing closer, and hugging tighter. They tongues met again in a soft battle that she knew, deep down, would escalate to something more as soon as night would have fallen. She usually wasn’t that needy but it had been over six months since they had last been together and she wanted to enjoy her time with him. She broke the kiss apart but not their embrace. She moved a little to the left, pressing her face to his shoulder, hiding the fact that he had made her breathless. Her eyes opened and locked with her mothers who was smirking at them before winking and standing up to sit next to Scott. She smiled at her in thanks, breaking their embrace and walking to the café. Jules and her parents were on first name basis, as they had learned all about their night together wandering the streets of Paris and had been there to observe their love story grow. As much as Scott grumbled about his baby girl growing up too fast he had to admit that Jules was the best match for her. They entered the café, hands still locked together and Tessa was the first to stand up and hugged her soon to be son in law. “How was your flight?” asked Tessa as Scott and Jules exchanged a handshake before the two couples took their seats around the table. “It was alright! It seemed to be longer than usual but I guess it was just the excitement to be reunited with this one.” tilting his head to the right in her direction and pressing a kiss to the back of her hand. She blushed and hid her face in his shoulder. The younger couple had never been shy around their parents about their affection for each other — they just kept it simple and soft.

Letting go of her hand, Jules wrapped his arm around his girlfriend, pulling her closer. Margaret smiled at this, knowing that he needed to be as close to her as she to him. She stopped a passing waitress and ordered two flat whites for herself and her mom, two black coffees and a mix of pastries for the table before focusing on the ongoing conversation. She made eye contact with her mom who was admiring the smile on her daughter face. “It’s so good to see you smile like that again” mouthed Tessa before reaching out and squeezing her daughter’s hand.

The family caught up about Jules’ whereabouts until the clock ticked two o’clock and it was time to take the road before the next rush hour would hit. Jules was in charge of getting all the garbage to the trash, Scott to pay and the girls to get all of their stuffs out of the café to get ready to leave the airport. Jules grabbed Margaret by the waist and pulled her in a hug just before climbing in the backseats of the car. She sat in the middle and leaned on her boyfriend, hand playing with his. She leaned in and pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw, murmuring her love for him before leaning back down and falling asleep as if nothing had happened. Falling asleep for Margaret had become such a task after France two years ago. She could only seem to fall asleep in his arms anymore.

Margaret was still asleep when they arrived home, and Tessa turned around and smiled at the couple. Jules was silently typing on his laptop with a sleeping Maggie on his shoulder, being careful not to disturb her too much. “Jules... We’ll let you wake her up. Scott will take your suitcase in for you. Take your time, honey.” She squeezed his knee and the older couple left the car to give them some privacy, without a groan from Scott that was silenced by Tessa with a pinch to his ribs. Jules laughed at them, shaking his head. He put his laptop away and turned to look down on his girlfriend, admiring her natural beauty. He still couldn’t believe he was going to spend the rest of his life with her, and he hoped to make it official soon.

He turned around slowly, pressing his lips to her forehead to wake her up in a soft way. Margaret was really her mother’s daughter for that and hated to be woken up, no matter the reason. He had learned that when he had tried to wake her up and engage in less than innocent cuddles but his Maggie had gotten better with time and Jules had gotten better with experience, knowing how to proceed now. He pressed a line of kisses from her forehead down to her cheek, over her jaw and down her neck where he stopped – murmuring some sweet nothing in her ear. She giggled and pushed him away before pulling him in close. “Are we home?” asked Margaret without opening her eyes nor moving. She was content where she was. He hummed positively before pushing the door open and pulling Margaret in his arms. She had grabbed his tote bag and the young man carried her back to her house with a shake of his head. “You are lucky I love you.”

“The luckiest.”

 

* * *

 

 

Jules was pacing back and forth in the living room in the early hours of Christmas morning. Tessa laughed at the sight, before moving in the room and falling on the loveseat next to the tree, the one facing the patio where you could see the snow still falling in thick. She knew Jules would speak on his term so the woman was happy to wait, after all – her daughter was the exact same. She was looking at the light and ornaments they had accumulated on the tree with their years together with Scott when Jules finally sat on the coffee table, head in his hands.

“You know exactly what I’m about to do, and I know she’ll say yes, so why am I this nervous?” asked the stressed man in the room before Tessa could ask anything or say anything, he stood up and started to ramble about all the things that could go wrong, forgetting the fact that her daughter was completely in love with him and had been since that night two years ago.

“Jules… Look at me!” Tessa waited until he turned around to look at her and the look of distress and fear in his eyes, prompted her to stand up and walked closer to him, hands on his shoulders. “Margaret fell in love in one night, walking around Paris. She was seventeen, not interested in dating, completely oblivious of the fact that boys found her attractive or were interested in her. All she cared about was her life, her grades and making us proud. That night, she left because Anna said she wasn’t part of the family. That night, two years ago, my little girl left our place to wander in the streets of a city she didn’t really know in the hope to find something, somewhere, _someone_ to help her find herself. She did find what she was looking for, in you. Don’t doubt yourself or your love, Jules.” Tessa was smiling at him encouragingly. “You found each other one night, met the day after and never let go since then. You both committed to a long distance relationship as your first ever relationship – if this doesn’t say enough about your love story, Jules. Let me tell you something that will.

Tessa sat on the couch and waited for Jules to join her. He turned a little bit, pulling one leg under him to be able to face her and Tessa mirrored his position.

“Margaret used to never be guarded before I gave her up for adoption, and then she closed herself up to protect herself. Scott adopted her and she immediately trusted him but he was – up until you – the only man she ever trusted. She would only trust him for most of her secret, crushed, bad grades, anything really. She would sought Scott before anyone else. The one time and only time she sought me over Scott was the night you met. She knew it was too much of a touchy subject for her daddy and decided to confide in me. I was a woman, I had fallen in love with an impossible love before. I had been in her shoes before and she needed this. She needed me. She only ever sought me for her relationship with you. It had never been Scott, only me. I was the one she asked about your date, your first time, and her first trip to Paris on her own, her fears, doubts, insecurities. She came to me for this Christmas asking if you could join us, she spent 20 minutes walking behind my office door to get herself together before blurting it out. You know how she is. Right before we left for the airport, she asked to talk to me and without a doubt in my mind I knew it was related to you, so we talked and talked until she felt ready to be reunited with you. She wasn’t not ready but I think she was too ready to have you back and didn’t know what the appropriate reaction and behavior would be. Before we left, she turned to me and declared that she couldn’t wait to see if I would be this composed on your wedding day. She knows it in her heart, is persuaded that you’ll end up married. Stop doubting and go for it.”

Tessa pressed a kiss to the top of his head as she stand up, walking to join her husband in the kitchen where she knew he had heard everything. They both knew the proposal was coming as Jules had asked them for their blessings but Tessa knew it would be hard for Scott to let go of his baby girl for real. The stayed in the kitchen, only approaching the living room to see Margaret practically jumping in Jules arms after he had asked her the question, tears running down her cheeks and the biggest smile on her face.

Their little girl had found who she was destined to love forever. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Mon amour!” = “My love!”  
> “Embrasse-moi, mon coeur.” = “kiss me, my heart.”


	10. i'll miss you forever, like the stars miss the sun in the morning sky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry, come yell at me in the comments or on twitter under the same @

**FLASHBACK**

Jules had kept the letter from Margaret until her next visit. He hadn’t want to turn her escape trip into something heavy and sad. It could wait until September when she would visit again he had thought. Jules walked into his apartment to find his girlfriend sleeping her jet-lag away on his bed, curled around his pillow. She had a tendency to do that when he wasn’t around and it was one of the cutest habit she had. He put all of his writing material on the table in the kitchen before walking to his room and sliding on the bed behind her and wrapping his arms around her. “Hi princess!” whispered Jules into the back of her neck. Margaret grumbled before turning and nuzzling into his neck, murmuring a “miss you” against his skin before falling back asleep.

Jules knew better than to disturb her in her sleep so instead he contented himself with holding onto her for a little longer before he needed to get to work and start on writing his new book. He had finally signed with a publishing house and they were already asking for a prologue and an idea. He was typing away on his laptop and barring ideas after ideas on his notepad when Margaret emerged from his room, sleepy eyes landing on him before she fell on his laps, wrapping her body around his. “Hi” whispered the woman in his arms as she pressed kisses after kisses on his lips. “Hi baby” She giggled and hid her face from his before pulling back with the biggest smile on her face. “Congratulations on signing with _La Compagnie Littéraire!”_ exclaimed Margaret with the proudest look on her face. “I’m so damn proud of you, baby!” She pulled on his hands and pulled him back to his bedroom to show how proud she was of him.

The afternoon went and passed with Jules still putting off the letter that was on his coffee table in the living room. Margaret was dozing in and out of slumber before she was shaken awake by Jules rolling off the bed and walking to retrieve the letter. He couldn’t put it off anymore. She deserved to know about it and to know what Alma had written her. He grabbed the envelope and walked back to his room, sitting next to Maggie and giving it to her. “Before you say anything, I got this letter a few days before you left this summer with a note stating that it was for you and that I wasn’t allowed to read it. It seemed important at the time so I kept it and waited until you were here with me to give it to you.” Margaret frowned at him before opening the envelope and taking out two letter, one sealed and one not. She took the unsealed one and started reading, but as soon as her eyes connected with the cursive handwriting of Alma, she fell back in her boyfriend’s arms and let it fall on her knees. “Did you know it was from her?” Jules nodded and pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “I did, Maggie, but it will be alright. I’m here.” As if to prove his point, he hugged her tighter and let her read the words her Ma had left for her.

 

 

> _Dear Maggie,_
> 
> _I’m so sorry for leaving you in this world without giving you the chance to say goodbye, but I knew that seeing you, tears in your eyes as you would have tried to stay strong for me would have ended me. I know I sent you to France with the promise to see each other again, but I already knew it was a lie and I am sorry for this, truly, Maggie. Please forgive me. You must feel robbed and betrayed but I couldn’t handle to see you sad, not you, not my baby Mags. You’ve always known you were my favorite, my precious little girl, hence why I’m taking the time to write you a letter that will be sent to Jules, in France._
> 
> _The family will want to hold off on Christmas this year because I will not be there to celebrate with the rest of you, but please, please, make it happen. Find a way to get all the Moirs together and celebrate like never before. Celebrate life, love and happiness, you’ll make me the happiest grandma if you can make it happen but know – that no matter what I will be proud. I know how stubborn they can be. You are simply more stubborn and more mischievous. You can celebrate as you want, I’m not going to be too picky on this but I will ask you one thing, one favor._
> 
> _Could you please read them the letter I’ll put in the envelope with it – please do not read it before this instant. It needs to happen for all of you at the same time. Stand straight, chin up and eyes bright and read as the proud and smart girl that you are._
> 
> _I love you and I am proud of you, always. No matter where you end up in life, I will always be there with you. You’ll find me in all the memories we have together, all the moments we spend together, and all the secrets we shared together. You will go far and big in life, I’ve always known. Life wasn’t ready for you to take it with both hands and shake it to its core. I wasn’t ready to meet you and fall helplessly in love with the baby girl who barely talked but you opened my heart to a new world. You changed my vision of the world and now, Margaret, it’s time you change the vision of the rest of the family. Please, do it for me._
> 
> _Love, always._
> 
> _Ma, x_

 

 

Margaret turned around in his arms, pressing her face to his chest as her arms wrapped around his neck. “She didn’t want me to see her like that, she almost planned it… Jules, Ma didn’t pushed me away because she hated me but because it would have been too hard to say goodbye.” She was frantically rambling around the letter and the past few months of sorrow and despair. Jules felt some of the tension she had been carrying around lift up and her body finally relaxed completely in his arms. “I love you, and she does too.” He had read the letter over her shoulder, knowing that she wouldn’t mind it or else, she would have moved away. “You have a mission to fulfill, now.” Chuckled Jules as he remembered the passage where she asked her grandchild to organize Christmas for her and the Moir family. “We, Jules, we have a mission. I’m not doing anything without you.”

 

 

**PRESENT DAY**

Jules watched as the Moirs took their seats around the living room, Joe took his usual place and without saying anything the spot for Alma was left empty. His grand-grandkids started to nervously sway from side to side, waiting for the authorization to open gifts but before Charlie who had always been in charge of this task for as long as Margaret could remember, the latter stood up with a last squeeze from her boyfriend. She stood and walked in front of the tree, holding the envelope with shaking hands before looking up, swiping the assembly with her eyes and a small smile. “I know you must wonder what I’m doing right now… but it will all make sense in a minute.” She nodded at her cousin, Charlotte, who immediately walked to turn off the music and all the people around her focused their energy on her. “Maggie?” asked Tessa, almost standing up but Scott pulled her back down, offering her daughter an encouraging smile as if he knew what was going to happen. “Right before her death, Ma send me an envelope when I was in France with Jules… in this envelope, two letters were found… One was for me –” She held her personal letter before giving it to Jules who took it and put it on his laps before looking at Margaret. “—the other was sealed, and as you can see… it still is.” With shaking fingers, she turned the sealed letter around. She took a deep breathe. “I didn’t want to celebrate Christmas as much as most of you didn’t, but Ma asked me to make it happen so this family, our family could stay united and together because this is what Moirs do.” A small smile grew on her lips when her youngest nephew crawled at her feet, wrapping his arms around her. “She also asked me to read this letter to all of us, because as promised I didn’t read it in advance, so please bear with my emotional self while I read this letter.”

Tessa broke out of Scott’s embrace and stood to hug her daughter before murmuring that she could take all the time she needed before going back to her seat, wrapping her arms around her husband. She watched as the other couples turned to each other, grandchildren crawling to their parents and she smiled when her youngest kid walked up to Joe, wrapping her arms around his form from behind, offering her silent support.

Margaret took a deep breathe, unsealed the letter and shook the paper before starting reading this letter and loosing herself in all the memories from her childhood, teenage years and adulthood with her grandma.

 

> _Dear Family,_
> 
> _If you are hearing this, it means my genius of grand-daughter managed to make this Christmas happen – not that I was doubting her, this girl is way too smart for all of you._

 

The room erupted in laughter, tears already forming in Margaret’s eyes as she tried really hard to keep reading for the sake of her family. If Alma Moir had believed she could do it, she would – even if tears would be rolling down her cheeks by the end of this.

 

> _I know you are all wondering what the hell is going on, but I just wanted to remind you why this celebration was needed and will continue to be needed._
> 
> _Keep living your life like there was no tomorrow, because there is literally no tomorrow. I’m the proof of this. Love endlessly and fiercely. Chase the dreams you have, and don’t let anyone stop you. Do you think I would have the life that I did if I had let fears dictate my life? Would I have met Joe the way I did over forty years ago? Would I have gotten the best children I could have possibly asked for? The answer to all of those is_ **_no_ ** _. Please go after your dreams, and live the life you want to. Fate is nothing, you have all the power. You are the one ruling your life, and the only one._

 

Margaret knew what was coming even before her eyes connected with the paragraphs. She turned slightly to face her pops, looking at Anna who squeezed him a little tighter. Tears were already rolling down their cheeks but Margaret was adamant to give up. She reached out with one hand, taking Joe’s hand in hers before starting to read once again.

 

> _Joe, please do not mop around. Fight for your life while you still have the time. Get on this Canadian road trip we never had the chance to do, travel to Europe while you still can – I’m sure someone will be happy to come with you. I love you, my love – till death do us apart, but even after that I am still hopelessly in love with you. Thank you for the live you’ve shared with me. Thank you for our children. Thank you for being my best friend and the love of my life. I’ll be waiting for you, take your time my love. Yours, forever and ever._
> 
>  

Margaret crushed the letter between her and Joe as she pulled him in her arms, letting him mourn the love of his life before Anna moved around the couch and took her place. The older of Scott’s children moved to the next person on the letter, Charlie.

 

> _Charlie, you are the perfect older brother to your brothers, the beset uncle to your nieces and nephews, the best husband to your wife and the best dad to your kids. You’ve always protected your loved ones – don’t forget to let them protect you. We’ll meet again big boy, remember what we talked about the day of your wedding, remember what I told you, remember that you are never alone, remember that you are enough and remember that you are loved, so, so loved. I love you._
> 
>  

Margaret was pulled in her uncle’s lap before she had finished the last sentence she was reading. She wrapped her arms around his shoulder and let him cry in her shoulder. She looked at his wife who shrugged before giving them space without moving away. Her hand was rubbing circle on his back as Charlie was murmuring a loop of thank you in Margaret’s shoulder and she understood why his immediate reaction had been to hug her and not his wife. She had been the one speaking his mother’s last words to him. She pressed her face to his shoulder and the two thick as thief uncle/niece duo shared an emotional moment. She pushed herself up after Charlie’s wife as convinced him that Margaret had other words to give. Margaret was still listening to the soft crying sound coming from her uncle as she stopped in front of Danny.

 

> _Danny, I love you with all of my heart and I know you love me too, but please open your heart up. Let yourself be vulnerable with others. I can’t be the only person to have seen you cry in your life. You have a wife, willing to help you carry any burden in life. You have kids that will need to learn the important of being vulnerable and using it against the world. I know losing me was probably the hardest for you because you never ever thought it would happen. You always thought I was invincible but it had never been the case. I love you, and it is time for you to show the people you love that you love them._
> 
>  

Danny had always been the least tactile of her uncle and when she finished reading his part, she squeezed his hand and let his wife comfort him to the best of her capacity. She pressed a kiss to the top of his head nonetheless and hugged his wife before walking to the hardest part so far. If reading Joe’s part had been hard, reading the one for her dad would probably destroy her. She made eye contact with her mother who pulled Scott tighter in her side as she started reading. Hand connected with theirs in their personal hand hold.

 

> _Scotty, my baby boy, I am so proud of the man you turned out to be. I always had faith that you would do great things in life but I never thought it would be in the form of adopting one little girl who shook our world. Thank you for being the most kindhearted, compassionate and loving person I had the pleasure to know and raise. You have the power to turn someone’s day around, my boy. Please use it as much as you can. Keep making people laugh, keep teasing your brothers and keep loving your family. I never, ever doubted you would rock the dad role. I’ve always been scared that you would never allow you to have it since you always put other’s happiness before yours. Think of yourself, Scotty. Take the time to grief, to heal, to build yourself up and to cry. Don’t bottle your emotions up. Trust your wife, and your kids to support you and love you the most when you need it. I’ll always be there to love you and hold your hand._

 

Margaret had started her dad’s speech standing up but ended up kneeling in front of her dad with their foreheads connected with her mothers. She could remember the first time they had done that all of those years ago, a few months after Scott had adopted her. She let go of the letter to press her warm hands to his cheeks, erasing the tears and pressing a kiss to his forehead. “I love you daddy.” She smiled at him, sadly, squeezing his hands before turning a little bit to face her mother who gasped because until now, Alma had only addressed her husband and sons.

 

> _My beautiful Tessa, I’ll always remember the first day my loud and outgoing boy climbed into the car quietly. He didn’t yell his greetings or ran to the car, he simply walked up to it and silently climbed in the vehicle, leaned in to kiss my cheek and buckled up. He didn’t say anything else and it took me hours and hours to pry the reason behind his silence. The reason was you._

 

She watched her parents exchanged a look before the couple turned their attention back to their daughter, cheeks wet but face bright with their smiles.

 

> _He was sad you were waiting by yourself. He wanted to help you – as always when it comes to you. You found in my boy a life partner and I truly hope you know that it means. Between you and me, I know you do. He’s the reason you started to come over after school, he’s the reason why you started to turn into fashion, he’s the reason you opened up to us, he’s the reason you started to trust, believe in and love yourself. Scott is the reason of a lot of things related to you but you are the reason my family became tighter and closer. You are the reason Margaret exist, and even if her upbringing in life wasn’t ideal – you both made it work and I don’t think it could have turned out into something else. Thank you Tessa for bringing our Scott back, for giving us the perfect grandchild in Margaret but more importantly, thank you for being the person that you are. We are almost 8 billion people in the world, and I can certified that only a small portion of these people would have gone through what you did to make sure your daughter had a future._
> 
> _I love you baby girl, thank you for naming your daughter after me. Cannot wait to be reunited with you beautiful girl._

 

Margaret had murmured the last sentence in her mother’s ear as she had pulled her into a hug, needed her daughter’s connection. The younger Virtue fell in her mother’s arms and let the sob get free of the confine of her lungs. She felt her mother’s arms around her and then her dad’s. She stayed there for a little bit longer, taking the strength they were giving her before standing back up and reading the few words dedicated to her cousins as she walked to stand next to Jules but then took the time to silently the words Alma had put down for her. She didn’t want to share those words with anyone else, they were hers and hers alone.

 

> _Thank you Mags for doing this. I know it mustn’t have been easy but you were the only one strong enough to do it so thank you. I love you baby girl. This isn’t goodbye, we’ll see each other really soon._

 

She swiped her cheeks dry before smiling at her family before pronouncing the words that were ending the letter, her reminder and final wish.

 

> _Yours, forever._
> 
> _Alma Moir._

 

Margaret felt her knees gave up under her weight but before she could touch the ground, she felt herself being pulled in the only embrace she wanted right now. She would have accepted her mother, and would soon turn to her but for now her dad needed her more and she had her own significant other to turn to. She sobbed in his arms, turning to face him and pressed her face to his chest, trusting him to take care of her and not let her fall. Jules walked them back to the couch, falling on it and taking Maggie in his fall. He wrapped his arms tighter around her as she cried her loss of her grandma, loss of their Christmas traditions, loss of her childhood best friend, loss of her person who she had been named after even before she had officially met. 


	11. i have found the one that my soul loves

Margaret was dozing in and out of consciousness as Jules drove them back home, they had spent Christmas Eve with her parents. Breakfast at the Moir’s house in Ilderton followed by Lunch at Kate’s with all of her uncles and aunt, then an entire afternoon at the rink because what else should Moirs do on Christmas Eve? and they had spent the evening at her parents place with her younger siblings, where she finally had the time to catch up with her younger brother, Luke and her young sister, Anna. Jules was studying abroad in Norway to study the climate change and Anna was finished high school, getting ready for her big move to McGill for the coming up semester. She was following her mother in the fashion world and was probably going to take over the shop when it was time. She had already designed one of their spring collection a year ago, so the youngest of the Moir’s clan was well on the right path to be successful.

The hand of her husband was traveling up and down her thigh, trying to keep her alert enoughas she lost herself in the memory of the day. A small smile pulled at her lips when she registered what her husband was doing, or trying to anyway. It was well past eleven at night, and the lights kept scrolling past them. Only 10 minutes left had murmured Jules before concentrating on the road once more as the snow started to fall faster and faster, swirling around due to the wind. She moved her hand down her thigh to link her fingers with his. “Thank you for today, babe. I know it’s hard not to be with your family on Christmas, but I promise we’ll deal with the logistics of going back to France better next year!” Margaret had this weird habit that she would start ramble when she was really tired and couldn’t do anything about it but Jules seemed to like it. He usually asked her questions when she was in that state just to see what she would respond or babble about.

“I know, baby, don’t worry about it too much. We’re flying over there for new year anyway and I was over there in October. I’m quite happy we stayed here this year.”

She turned over in her seat and looked at him before leaning in and pressing a kiss to his cheek, even if he had reprimanded her for doing this in the past. She just had the time to reposition herself before the familiar path leading to their house could be seen and she straightened up and got herself ready to combat the cold of the Ontarian winter. She pulled the beanie lower on her head while Jules cut off the engine and the couple rushed back to their house, Jules with his arm around a shivering Maggie, trying to keep her warm. Once the door closed behind them, Margaret pulled on her coat sleeves to take if off and then turned to help her husband with his. The pair of heeled boots she had chosen for the day put them at the same height and she took advantage of this fact by pressing a chaste kiss to his mouth, arms wrapped around his neck. “I love you.” Jules kissed her again, before slotting his face in her shoulder which made her smile, because she had seen her dad do that with her mom since she’s been five years old. “Je t’aime Maggie.” She giggled softly before hugging him closer to her. She broke their loving embrace only to reach down to unzip her boots, tiptoed them off and to head to the kitchen to fulfill one of the many traditions she grew up with. A glass of warm milk before bed on Christmas Eve. She pulled two glassed, and got the milk ready while Jules was probably getting ready for the night. She was so jealous of his minimal night routine that literally took him 4:27 minutes, yes she had recorded him.

Jules walked in the kitchen only wearing sweatpants low on his hips before coming up behind her and wrapping her arms around her waist and pulling her snug against his body. He had missed their usually cuddly/touchy attitude but he liked his life a little bit too much to act naturally around Scott Moir. The man had given him his blessing to marry his daughter but I think knowing and seeing what really happen between the couple would be testing the man’s limit.

She poured the milk into their glasses and turned around only to jump on the counter, legs falling open for her husband to walk between her knees and rest against her torso. Both were looking outside, at the snow falling down in a cute flurry. “It was a good day, today. Your family was so excited to at least have you for the day.” She had pulled herself closer to his back by closing her legs around his waist, cheek landing on his shoulder blade. She hummed, silently enjoying their quiet moment. “I know it was good. I missed my siblings more than I had realized.. I feel like such an horrible person for not visiting them more often or reaching out.” She turned her face and pressed it in the dip between his shoulder blades. “I used to stay up all night long sometimes when Luky would have a nightmare and sought me instead of any of our parents and I was just so scared for him that sleep was out of the question. When he started to walk, it was to me. When Anna was born, I had been the one to calm him enough and explain to him it didn’t mean mom and dad were replacing him or me. They were just ready to love another baby. And Anna… oh my god, Anna. We had a bigger gap and we didn’t connect for a very long time. I wasn’t home enough for her to want to talk to me or share her life with me but then she came to visit me when I was in France with you and that was a turnover for the both of us.” Margaret was pouring down all of her feelings on the one person that would always listen and help her. He turned around and pulled her in a tight hug. “They know you’re busy and next year will be easier for all of us, including you. You’ll have more time to visit them and Margaret, don’t ever forget that these kids look at you like you hung the stars and I totally understand them.”

She pressed a kiss to his mouth and gulped the last of her milk before letting her man carry her to their bedroom, straight to the ensuite for her to get ready for the night. She watched as he left, stretching his lean body before disappearing and leaving her alone to deal with her night routing. She scrubbed her face cleaned and moisturize it, then pulled her hair in a lose braid for the night. She had always hated sleeping with her hair loose and the braid was the simplest way to deal with this. She walked back in the room only to find her husband under the cover and a small box on her pillow that wasn’t there fifteen minutes ago.

“What’s that?” Margaret got closer, and the closer she got her eyes narrowed on the way the box was wrapped and tears sprung to her eyes. “Is this from my mom? It this the last item that will go on my bracelet?” She had been expected it all day and was kinda sad when nothing happened during their dinner. She was surprised to get it now, without her mother but this woman had always known what she was doing. She sat crossed legs on the bed, grabbed the box and pulled on the red ribbon, her color from their color scheme system from all of those years ago. She took a deep breathe and opened the box and the jewel inside it was so pure and eloquent that Margaret couldn’t stop the tears for falling or the sob for escaping. She unlocked her bracelet and place the new piece on it, turning it around the metallic cord of it — admiring the latest and last addition. Her mom had started this with her birth stone, engraved with her birth date and her initials and she had finished it with her wedding date followed by their joined initial and the quote that had been sitting in her own necklace from twenty years ago, realizing now that her mother had planned it all along. She fired a text to her mom of her crying face with the bracelet around her wrist as she was leaning against a shirtless Jules. Her mom was way less shocked by what Jules and Margaret got up to. Jules was Margaret’s first boyfriend, first time, first everything and hopefully only. Tessa had answered all the weird question when they started dating, so seeing him shirtless would be nothing.

Margaret, 11:44pm — **sent an image.**

Margaret, 11:45pm — **“I may just spent the last 10 minutes sobbing because of your gift. I spent all day thinking you had forgotten about it. I know this year meant the end of this tradition and I thought you didn’t want it to end — I had no idea you would do that. I love you, always. Thank you for everything, Momma.** ♡”

Tessa, 11:47pm — **“I love you, Monkey. Always. Have a good Christmas tomorrow with Jules. I’ll see you next week. xx”**

 

* * *

 

 

She felt someone moved behind her and groaned. It was too early to be awake and her husband knew this. She was questioning her decision to marry this morning lover today more than ever. She knew it was Christmas and that Jules had planned an entire day just the two of them, until they would drive to his parents’ place for dinner. They hadn’t managed to push the celebration until the 26th like they had hoped. They both had driven to her parent’s place the day before and had gotten home way too late to be awake and ready for the day at — Margaret at squinted at the light coming in through the curtain to see that it was actually — 10:32am. A smile grew on her face then, knowing that Jules had let her sleep and had probably spent his entire morning watching her sleep or working on his new novel, because yes Margaret Alma Virtue-Moir had married a french writer.

She knew he was about to touch her even before she felt him move on his side of the bed, smiling when she felt his slightly colder fingers caress the skin of her waist and his body press against hers. “Bonjour, mon amour.” A shiver ran down her spine as always when he spoke French to her, the raspiness of his voice creating goosebumps on her chest and upper arms. “Mmh hi babe.” whispered Maggie as she felt his lips wander the length of her neck, taking advantage of the braids she had used to pull her hair out of her face for the night. She let him enjoy this cuddly side of her for a little bit before rolling around and landing half on his chest, rapidly leaning in for her good morning kiss. “Now this is a _bon_ day.” She pressed her body closer to the man she loved, enjoying the few free minutes they both didn’t have on any normal day. She was still working on her thesis and he had a due date to meet at the end of January for the last part of his novel. Both of them were too career driven to waste time thinking about family but it was something Margaret wanted, she had always wanted to have a family of her own but it had always been last on her bucket list. She was now almost done with her thesis, proudly writing and explaining the important of speech between children and between adults/children. Margaret moaned louder as his hands wandered under her sleeping shirt to caress her back, landing on the swell of her ass. She looked at him and for the first time, Christmas started in the best possible. in bed. naked. with her husband.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Je t’aime Maggie” = “I love you, Maggie”  
> “Bonjour, mon amour.” = “Good morning, my love”


	12. you're my greatest adventure

Talulah was whimpering in her bed, calling out for her mama but Margaret was not having any of this. She turned to the baby phone and pressed a button before speaking. “Talulah, get over here and let us sleep, ma cherie. Daddy and I need sleep.” Talulah who was the best mommy girlto ever exist immediately ran out of her room, the pitter patter of her socked feet could be heard through the upper level of their house. She pushed the door open and closed it before running to her mom’s side of the bed before climbing in and over her mother to fall down between her mother and father. She giggled when she realized that her daddy wasn’t wearing a shirt, a mischief look grew on her face before she moved closer to him and pinched his nipple as hard as her little finger would allow her. He jumped and squealed, sending Talulah in a fit of laughter, so strong she fell back against her mother who was having trouble keeping a stern face. Talulah had entered the phase of the nipple apparently, a phase both of her parents had missed. “DADDY NIPPLE!” Jules sent her a grumpy look before moving to get out of the bed but his daughter was as much as a monkey as her mother used to be because the second he had turned his body to face the edge of the bed she had thrown herself on his back, wrapping her little arms around his neck. “Non, papa, reste. S’il te plait.” She was murmuring in French in his ear, knowing that he would do anything to make his little princess happy he tugged her around his torso and fell back on the bed with her on his chest. “Seulement parce que c’est toi, princesse.” She giggled and showed him her best grin before nuzzling her head in the warm spot where his neck met his shoulder. Jules opened his free arm for Margaret to lean in, which she did and the little family was once again being enveloped by slumber.

The next time Talulah woke up, she was alone in her parents bed. She started to panic, looking around for any signs of her parents but when she found none she started to cry, fat tears rolling down her cheeks, cry so loud they broke her voice after only a few minutes and when Margaret walked back in the room carrying a tray for mugs on it, she found her little girl sitting in their bed screaming and calling out for her mama again. She rapidly put the tray on the nightstand before pulling her distressed kid in her arms, making soothing noise to try and calm her. She never usually reacted that way, only when she was surprised to be alone and it was never this dramatic and loud. Margaret was sitting in her bed, a sniffling child in her lap as she tried to calm down. “Do you want to drink to cocoa baby?” She tried to reached out for it but Talulah squeezed her tighter and shook her head, clearly not ready to let go. “What happened baby? You wake up without us all the time in your room. You know we would never leave you alone for long.” She started to sway from one side to another, hoping the motion would help her. Jules entered the room at this moment. He had heard his princess’s screams but he knew that he wouldn’t be useful in this situation. Talulah was still in the mommy is my hero phase and every time something went wrong, she was calling mama. Jules knew it was just because they were still closely linked and that it would change with time, and he was away a lot with his books and everything. At least his daughter had someone she trusted enough to help her. 

Jules sat next to Margaret and wrapped his arms around his family and their daughter finally calmed down enough to explain with her broken sentence what had happened. “I had a bad dream, and you were gone…” She looked down, hands still shaking from her fear. Jules grabbed them and squeezed them. “We’re here princesse. On sera toujours là.” The little girl nodded and squeezed her papa’s hand back. “I woke up and you were gone and I couldn’t find any trace of you and I thought you had left me” Those nightmares were more frequent and after talking over together, Margaret and Jules had realized that those dreams had started the moment they had discovered she was expecting their second child. They haven’t told Talulah yet, but she had felt it in some way. “I know there is a baby in your tummy mama… are you replacing me?” Margaret saw herself twenty-five years younger than now, having the same conversation with her younger brother. “Talulah, we are not replacing you. Daddy and I love each other very much, and we love you even more. We just wanted to give some of our love to another baby. You’ll be a big sister soon, isn’t exciting?

“I get to be a big sister?” Her tears had finally stopped, and Talulah was back to being her usual happy self. She moved from her mother’s lap for her papa’s, nuzzling back against his chest and wrapping her arms around his biceps as he hugged her close to his chest. “We love you.”

“No matter what?” asked Talulah, looking at her mother.

“No matter what.” confirmed her mother and just like that the incident was forgotten.

The little girl finally turned to the tray with their breakfast and reached out for her sip cup full of cocoa and her mouth watered when her eyes landed on the yummy treat her daddy had cooked for them.

“Thank you papa. Thank you mama. You know.. for the best Christmas gift ever.”

Christmas was only in two weeks but if Talulah thought it counted as her Christmas gift, then they would be happy to say so too. “Is your little brother or sister your Christmas gift? Does that mean you don’t want anything else?” teased her papa, receiving the darkest, hardest glare her daughter could muster — arms crossed over her chest, she jutted her chin out. “Ne soit pas stupide, papa. Tu sais que je veux un vélo et une nouvelle maison de poupée.” Margaret burst out of laughing, holding onto her side to keep from doubling over. Jules was stunned from her daughter’s fire back but what else could be expected from a Virtue woman? nothing. that was the reality of Jules’ life now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> on, papa, reste. S’il te plait. = No, daddy, stay. Please  
> “Seulement parce que c’est toi, princesse.” = “Only because it’s you, princess.”  
> “We’re here princesse. On sera toujours là.” = “We’ll always gonna be there.”  
> “Ne soit pas stupide, papa. Tu sais que je veux un vélo et une nouvelle maison de poupée.” = “don’t be silly, daddy. You know I want a bicycle and a new doll house.”


End file.
